Johnston, D. M. 1964 7 15 Apr of sticks. Bob thought it might be the Hawaiian Noddy. This species is smaller than the Common Noddy and has a shorter, light gray tail. In the large ternery on the point we were especially looking for Gray-backed Terns. In all, we noted about 150, always on the periphery of the ternery, though we never saw any physical conflicts between the two species. We were especially looking for nests of the gray-backs and succeeded in finding at least 2. They were located but under the trees in a tangle of low branches on the ground. We found them by watching carefully for a gray-back working its way out of the tangle. Each nest contained a single egg which, in comparison with Sooty Eggs, appeared to be smaller, less pointed (more ovate) and perhaps with a slightly more ten background color. In contrast to most sooties, these incubating gray-backs did not sit tightly but rather flushed when we were 50' away. Why aren't more gray-backs nesting?--many were just standing around out on the point and very occasionally courting. Then, why were there some nearly fledged chicks seen yesterday? Evidently this species is like the sooty in that different individuals--at least in the Flipper Point colony--are in far- removed different reproductive stages. Great (m.) Frigate-bird white head & belly throat + neck gray-white, belly black